Palestinians turn to Russia to bypass US peace plan

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to visit Moscow in the coming months with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The Palestinians are urging Russia to play a greater role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as they embark on an international campaign to bypass the Trump administration’s peace plan, which is scheduled to be released in the coming months, Palestinian officials said on Tuesday.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to visit Moscow in the coming months to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has spoken multiple times of hosting a Middle East peace process that would include direct talks between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Abbas.

PA Foreign Minister Riad Malki said on Tuesday that Abbas was prepared to meet with Netanyahu without preconditions if Russia is prepared to host such a summit.

Abbas’s spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh told a group of Israeli journalists that the PA wanted the international community to back its opposition to US President Donald Trump’s plan unless it was based on the pre-1967 lines and previous international understandings.